7 Thousand

So I just came back from my Head Boss’s office.
He called me up to tell me he was in.
So down I went,
And realized it’s been a little over two months since I last saw him.

You should know something about my Head Boss,
He’s super duper passionate about Kuwaiti archeology.
Hell, just about any archeology, really.
I mean, who would go for two months straight to Sina’a in the desert, during Ramadhan no less, to excavate with two dozen Japanese scientists?
Oh, and he doesn’t speak a lick of English.

Anywho.
Turns out way back when at the end of July (when I was hanging out with Bu A7med for some conservation work ), <-- read it fo' real, he gave me a tib (what’s the English word for it…?!) of dirty opened bags. So I opened them up and took a peak. Here were some things that I personally conserved:






Dude, you know that piece up there? The one that looks totally casual just sitting there, without a care in the world? The one I carried and had under my desk for the past two months so I can give it to Boss Man? The one I swear could have so easily been like, destroyed?

Yeah. Seven thousand years old from the Ubeid period.

Now just remember how this was the little tib that I sometimes kicked by accident.

OK: some info from the brochure I saved from the Kuwait Archeology Exhibit:
Note: to have written it verbatim would have caused a seizure from the sheer fact that almost all of it was one big run-on.

Al Ubeid Period:
Archeologists called the extended period from the end of the
sixth millennium BC to the middle of the fourth millennium BC in the Gulf area
by Al Ubeid Civilization. This is in relation to a small hill that was known by
Ubeid hill, and it was believed that this period was human settlement beginning
in Subiyyah area. The most important find was a model of a boat from red pottery
and its length reaches 14 cm and it is considered from the oldest marine earthen
boats in the world, and a pierced small pearl used as an ornament tool. 780 of
ornamented tools were made of shell beads and ornamented earthen containers with
geometrical drawings.
Such discoveries show the connection of mankind and
his connection to the sea and his attempt in the shipping industry like sailing
and diving for pearls; a nucleus of a date fruit considered the oldest in the
gulf area. Also, a collection of stones was found which were used by humans,
like basalt stone, the obsidian stone (volcanic glass) and quartz. Also found
part of a millstone that was used for grinding grains. And through the last
excavations, oval formed residential units were discovered and they have used in
their building the local marine rocks. What is worth mentioning is that this
discovery of the human adaptation extends with the environment surrounding him,
and his attempt to exploit his surroundings for his benefit.

So it’s not the Da Vinci Code, and I’m no Dan Brown, but dudes:

- “it is considered from the oldest marine earthen boats in the
world”
And
- “Also, a collection of stones was found which were used by
humans, like basalt stone, the obsidian stone (volcanic glass) and quartz”

Is that a collective ‘whoa’ I hear? :p

Bu A7med just called, tempting me to come over and help him out in the makhzen (storage). Alas, I regretfully declined, seeing as I still had translation work to do.

Oh, and btw: Head Boss loves me, cuz he was all like, ‘I never did take you to Kathema, did I? Wanna go Monday?’. I hyperventilated with anticipation, while Clueless wondered why the hell we were going to the city.

Word.

It’s honestly times like this when I’m just floored by what I do.

Ps: I apologize to the archeology gods. Had I known I would be responsible for putting together 7,000 year-old pieces, I would have taken a lot more interest in how the final product would have looked aesthetically.
Pps: Who the hell gives a novice total responsibility over such important pieces? Bhaita I understand! But ‘fresh’ pieces from the Ubeid period

Pps: Mimi GDub, what's this about volcanic glass? Does your geology-ness wish to explain further?